WORKERS at a Black Country food factory sacked for a wildcat strike over alleged racial abuse are today planning to take their protests to West Midlands shoppers.

West Bromwich-based 2 Sisters Food Group, which supplies chicken products to major names such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer, dismissed 54 members of staff by post over the weekend.

The workers had been suspended by the company since the strike, which hadn’t been sanctioned by Unite, at one of the company’s factories, in Smethwick, on September 2.

Unions said the protests were sparked by the company’s slow response to an alleged racist incident involving a security guard employed by a third-party contractor. Five Unite shop stewards who also protested remain suspended and could yet be fired as well.

Zohib Javid, aged 21, is one of the suspended shop stewards. He said: “Obviously we’re not happy with what’s happened and we feel we’ve been let down by the company.

“We did nothing wrong – we were just standing up for our rights. We hope to meet with the company this week sometime with a view to getting everybody reinstated.

“Otherwise we’ll be looking at more protests and to hold them outside shops the company supplies - we need to put pressure on them to put pressure back on 2 Sisters.”

The sackings were today confirmed by 2 Sisters spokesman Peter King. “The company suspended 54 employees on September 2 for their involvement in unofficial industrial action,” he said.

“After a thorough investigation and disciplinary process these employees were regrettably dismissed with immediate affect from Friday.

“No decision has been taken on the five shop stewards that were also suspended. The dismissals on Friday were due to the employees’ involvement in unofficial industrial action. Any claim that the dismissals or unofficial strike action were related to an alleged racial incident that took place earlier in the year is very tenuous. We do not tolerate racism and any suggestion that it does is unjustified and unfounded.”